Because of this, Yuwen Tai, the paramount general of Western Wei, made repeated alliance overtures to Tujue, and initially, Ashina Qijin,[3] who took over the throne in 554 after the death of his brother, the Issik Qaghan, agreed to give a daughter to him in marriage, but soon revoked the agreement.

In 565, Emperor Wu sent a delegation of 120 people led by his brother Yuwen Chun (宇文純) the Duke of Chen to Tujue to escort Ashina Qijin's daughter back to Northern Zhou, but Ashina Qijin again revoked his offer and instead considered an alliance with Northern Qi, detaining Yuwen Chun and the rest of the delegation.

[3][6][7] Empress Ashina was said to be beautiful and appropriate in her actions, and Emperor Wu honored her but was said to not favor her, until his niece Lady Dou (the daughter of his elder sister the Princess Xiangyang and the official Dou Yi (竇毅) the Duke of Shenwu) reminded him of Tujue's power and that he still had to face the rivals Northern Qi and Chen dynasty, and that he needed to show the empress greater favor to appease her home state.

[12] The tomb was raided numerous times by looters, but several artifacts, including her golden seal and several Xianbei-style statuettes, were recovered by Shenyang police.

[15] The first genetic analysis on the Empress Ashina in 2023 by Xiaoming Yang et al. found nearly exclusively Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,3%), and no Chinese ("Yellow River") admixture.